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It is amazing how somebody’s opinion can change due to the smallest factor. In online business, that would be customer service through a virtual assistant. This is so important to an online business, as customer service can mean the difference between success and failure. The way you handle this can determine how you are viewed compared to your peers and it can make you really stand out, in a good way or a bad way. You have the potential to build a significant feeling of trust here, with visitors, customers or those who are still deciding.

Describe Customer Service?

Take a moment and consider these points carefully. A reader signs up for newsletters or your affiliate program. A number of days pass and they haven’t received any notification, information or confirmation. That reader decides to withdraw their request because you have become “persona non grata.”

It is important, to say the least, to follow through on the offers you make to readers and customers alike. That is why they came to you in the first place. You have to follow through and this will help to formulate their decision to stay, so it goes without saying that this action is very important, if you are to succeed.

Just like in a store, no one wants to wander around aimlessly without support. If you have to ask for help you then the point has been missed. It is the job of the business owner to be available in case they are needed.

How to Provide Good Customer Service

Of course it’s unrealistic to think that somebody would be hanging around the computer around the clock, waiting for a random question to be asked by a reader. What you can do however is put processes in place so that someone, such as a virtual assistance provider, or something automatic for that matter, is there 24/7 to be available for any eventuality.

Here are some suggestions:

• Auto-responder messages
• Scheduled newsletter delivery
• FAQ page that is always updated
• User-friendly tabs, site map and links to get around the website with ease
• An answering service
• Virtual assistants

Keep in mind that even when you can’t be available personally, you know that your readers and customers are taken care of. As an example, when you have an affiliate program, the information or links should be sufficient to educate the readers and to tell them how they can go about signing up. Sign up forms need only include pertinent information so they are as simple as possible to complete.

When you have time, go through your email messages for those whose questions didn’t fit one of the recorded categories on your “Contact Us” page. The auto-responder message for them gives you an additional 24 to get back to the reader with the information requested.

Any truly professional virtual assistants will guarantee to you that prompt service on your part is an indication that you are very serious about somebody’s business. You value their action and want to ensure that they are quite pleased with their choice. Customer service is a big part of building a healthy long-lasting relationship with your readers, and it’s a detail that if left unattended, could mean the loss of an otherwise great online investment.

Every business needs a business plan. It can be a rather intimidating task to sit down with a pen and paper and start creating one for your business. It’s absolutely essential for you to do though, and as a virtual assistance provider you will in all likelihood discover that you don’t need to do all that much, as it’s improbable that you’ll require a lot of funding for your start up costs. I would suggest that every start up business, Virtual Assistant or otherwise, should go through the steps of preparing a fairly detailed business plan. The very act of putting your ideas onto paper helps you to focus and clarify your ideas. There are a great variety of templates available to help you, and I  suggest that your first step should be to check out the selection on the Microsoft website.

When you start, you should begin with a very simple document that deals with the following items:

1. Your Elevator Pitch – A thirty second description of your organisation and the services you handle which you can bring up when networking to introduce yourself in less than 30 seconds.

2. Market Analysis/Market Research – Is the research that you have undertaken to identify your market, the target market for your service, your competitors and your service offering. You should provide a detailed description of the various groups of targeted customers which are in your market analysis, and express why you are choosing these specifically as targets. You might also have an interest in describing the virtual assistants and their associated market by summarising the market expansion over the last few years and some fairly detailed trend analysis of where the market is likely to go.

3. Marketing and Sales – You should have developed plans to market your products and services, and to close sales. Your marketing strategy is going to include how you’re going to focus on your target market, what media you’re going to use to build awareness of your business and how you’re going to position your business in the marketplace; this will involve identifying your unique selling position. Your sales strategy on the flip side will address how you intend to finalise agreements and lock-in clients; this will encompass pricing, delivery, terms and conditions.

4. Operations – You should describe how your business is going to be structured, including location and necessary equipment, you may also wish to include how you see this developing as your online business expands.

5. Management and People – This area should encompass a rundown of how the company is set up, what support staff you use currently, or may want to utilise in the near future.

6. Finance – This is the part that generally scares people to death, but there is really no need to panic. You need to do this to make sure that your business is viable, and so that you have a set of goals and targets to work toward. You can easily download spreadsheet templates from the Web if you use Microsoft Office. I personally advise you get them from their site as they have a very extensive range of free templates. This will comprise of : This will comprise of :

* A personalised spending plan so you are aware of what expenditure you will need to cover from your income.

* A worksheet showing how you’re going to fund any start up costs you might have.

* A Sales Budget  – You will probably want to use value based pricing for this. You can reasonably estimate your sales by working out your billable hours per month at the rate you expect to charge.

* A Costs Budget  – You will need to identify your fixed costs and your variable costs. There is no requirement to calculate the cost of sales because as a Virtual Assistant you are merely offering a service.

* An Operating Budget/Profit and Loss – This is a strategy for your business which details the sales and expenditure accounts in one form.

* Break Even Analysis – This will demonstrate the amount of hours you need to bill in order to cover your costs, and then anything in excess of that is profit. To complete this type of analysis you need to know your variable costs/unit, sales price/unit and fixed costs.

* Cashflow Forecast – This will be the most critical document to you. It’s the lifeblood of your business. Poor financial management is one of the principle reasons for business collapse. This will assist you with monitoring the cash flowing in and out of your business, and it will assist you with identifying when you’ll have cash available, or when you may not have enough cash and should make alternate arrangements with your bank before the coming problem wrecks havoc.

That’s everything you essentially require to make a start. This should even be all you really need to set up a business bank account. You can add things like an executive summary at the start of the document, which is a section designed to give a brief overview of your business together with highlights from sections 2 -6 above. If you wish, you could add appendices to include your CV and so on.

Don’t forget, as a virtual assistant your business plan should be dynamic and you should use it as a yardstick of how effectively you’ve met your targets. It needs to be reviewed at least every four weeks from when you start your business, but this can be extended as your business grows, although it’s always best to monitor the financial section at regular, short term intervals.